Cooking Dinner
by clarinet-alto-4ever
Summary: Edward cooks dinner for Bella before prom at the end of Twilight. But has Edward finally found one thing he can't do? How can someone cook well without being able to taste his own food?


A/N: If you haven't visited stephaniemeyer

A/N: If you haven't visited , you should! I was reading the outtakes and extras there, and one of them inspired this short one-shot. If you want to find out the end of this, you'll have to go read Stephanie Meyer's outtake on this unless I can think of a way to continue/extend this. It didn't turn out the way I'd hoped, but it's still cute-ish. I picked lasagna because that's what I had for dinner before my junior prom. My cooking skills are very limited, so if I messed up somewhere, I apologize. 

XOX

Edward Cullen had a job to do. He had a plan in mind and now he just had to execute it. Bella was off with Alice shopping, so he had all day to get this done perfectly.

He first went to his room and gathered the items he had bought earlier in the week. He made a trip or two out to his car to load them in the backseat.

"Alright," he thought, "now it's off to the store."

He grabbed the recipes he had Googled and quickly compiled them into a neat shopping list. Hopping into his Volvo, he sped towards the supermarket.

Edward had only been in the Forks supermarket once or twice, but never to buy any food. He went through the automatic doors and grabbed a shopping cart. His first stop was the fresh produce. He picked up a head of romaine lettuce and an onion. Heading over to the next aisle, he added some parmesan and mozzarella cheeses to the cart along with some croutons and Caesar dressing. Finally, getting some hamburger meat, lasagna noodles, and tomato sauce, he made his way to the checkout, paid, and carried his bags to the Volvo.

Before leaving, Edward called Charlie using his cell phone to make sure he was ready for him to come over and cook. Charlie said yes and Edward was at the house a mere two minutes later.

"Edward, you got here awfully quickly," Charlie said suspiciously while waiting for him at the door. Charlie's thoughts couldn't decide if I had driven way too fast here or talked on the cell phone while driving. Edward quickly avoided the problem.

"I stopped on the side of the road a couple blocks down to call. I had forgotten to before I left the supermarket and didn't want to surprise you too much," Edward improvised quickly.

"Oh," Charlie said, his thoughts betraying his disappointment in not finding a reason to criticize Edward. "Well, I suppose I'll go watch the game in the living room and let you in the kitchen by yourself."

Edward nodded and proceeded to take the groceries out of the car. He managed to bring them in by himself and laid them out on the counter.

"Alright," he said to himself, "time to cook a meal. Can't say I've ever done this before. Bella just might have found one thing I can't do."

Edward rummaged through the cupboards until he found the pots. Filling one with water, he set it on the stove to boil for the noodles. He also pulled out the hamburger meat and threw it in the pan to begin browning.

He rummaged through the cupboards until he found where Bella kept the spices. He grabbed a few of the jars and, giving the meat a stir, tossed them in with it.

While that finished cooking, he washed the lettuce up for the Caesar salad and put it in a bowl. Edward set that in the fridge to stay cool.

The water was boiling so Edward carefully dumped the lasagna noodles into the pot. He continued preparing the salad when he heard Charlie decide to check on him in the kitchen.

"How are you doing, Edward?"

Edward nodded politely, "I believe I'm doing alright. I have missed anything, have I?"

Charlie looked it over and shook his head. "Nope, everything looks good. Call me if you need an extra taste tester."

"I defiantly will," Edward said with a mental chuckle. He knew he would absolutely have to call him in to taste the food.

Charlie headed back to the game, and Edward prepared the lasagna. It was soon ready to stick in the oven. He then cleaned up the mess he had made.

Back in the living room, Charlie was yelling at the television screen. "Charlie?" Edward asked.

Not once breaking eye contact with the screen, Charlie replied with an absentminded "Yeah?"

"I need to run out and pick up my tux. The lasagna is in the oven, but I should be back before it's done. However, if you smell something burning, would you go check it?"

Charlie again gave a distracted grunt of semi-understanding. Edward shook his head and headed for the Volvo.

A mere few minutes later he was picking up his tux at the rental store. The longest part of the trip was waiting in line behind countless other junior and senior boys picking up their own outfits for the evening. But after paying, he was back at Bella's house within five minutes. Charlie hadn't moved an inch.

Edward checked the lasagna in the kitchen. He determined it would be ready to check by the time he changed. He mentioned to Charlie that he was going to change in the guest bathroom, but Bella's father still paid him no attention.

He did so and headed back into the kitchen. The lasagna looked to be wonderful, but he needed someone to taste it, but he didn't want to find out right away if he had totally messed up. He opted to set the table first.

He placed the white table cloth across the small dining room table. The candles he placed sporadically around the table.

He decided he couldn't put it off any longer because he had to pick Bella up any minute. This time he went back into the living room and commanded Charlie's attention. "Charlie!" Charlie whipped around to face Edward. "Would you please taste the lasagna and make sure it's done?"

Charlie nodded mutely and followed Edward into the kitchen. Grabbing a fork from the drawer, he tasted a small bite from the corner. Edward waited without breathing, literally, to see if he had succeeded. Was there really something he couldn't do? Not that he was arrogant, but he still didn't want to find out he had failed at something.

Charlie chewed the lasagna slowly and turned to give Edward his answer.


End file.
